Top Bananas

A sensory route between playrooms, a separate sleep room and access to Harbour Hall give Top Bananas more variety than its Wimborne Road address might suggest. This Bournemouth nursery sits within the Life Centre, with its entrance on Brassey Road. Its spaces accommodate construction and pretend play, quieter books and rest, with Harbour Hall providing an indoor option for very wet and windy days.

Top Bananas has capacity for 45 children, accepting children from birth to five years. At its December 2023 inspection, Ofsted judged the provision Good and safeguarding effective, finding that staff understood individual learning needs and helped children make good progress. The strongest practical features are the connections between rooms and the provision for younger children to play, eat and sleep in spaces arranged for those purposes.

There are morning, afternoon and all-day sessions, with different all-day hours for nursery and preschool children. The educational picture also has a clear qualification: in December 2023, preschool group activities could become too noisy, and older children needed more opportunities to complete practical tasks independently.

Rooms and Ages

The Exploration room brings together construction, puzzles, dressing up and pretend domestic play, alongside mathematical resources such as scales and counting objects. That combination lets children move between making something, testing an idea and acting out familiar experiences, rather than requiring everyone to follow the same activity.

Mark-making, craft materials and sensory substances belong in the Messy Play room, which connects to the children's toilet and changing facilities. This puts everyday self-care alongside play, although the December 2023 finding about independence is a useful reminder that accessible facilities and opportunities to use them are separate matters.

For younger children, the Baby Room combines a monochrome cosy space with a leaf-themed cushioned book area, a play kitchen and building resources. The Toddler Room uses child-height furniture and a floor-level play tray so children can reach activities themselves.

The preschool rooms connect through a sensory walk, with a nearby reading space and a blue feature wall. The younger children's rooms have a sensory crawl/walk containing mirrors with curved surfaces, coordination boards and materials to investigate. Movement between rooms can therefore include looking, touching and experimenting, rather than simply passing through a corridor.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage guides the learning and care here: children develop language, movement, relationships and early understanding through play, with staff assessing their development and planning what comes next. It is the common early-years framework, rather than an extra programme unique to Top Bananas. The nursery's learning approach gives younger children an emphasis on communication, physical development and relationships.

A useful additional detail is the attention to schemas, meaning recurring patterns in children's play. Transporting describes the urge to carry things between places; Rotation concerns circular movement, wheels and turning objects. Recognising these patterns gives practitioners a way to respond to a child's repeated interest rather than treating repetition as a reason to move them on immediately.

Children can select activities and work through their own ideas, while adults also organise group experiences.

In December 2023, younger children explored colour mixing and shapes, while sensory dough-making introduced vocabulary connected with ingredients. Older children made models, invented pretend-play scenarios and experimented with musical instruments.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outside, planting beds, decking and an artificial-grass surface create different areas for gardening and movement. Bikes, hoops and balancing equipment sit alongside sand, water and large drawing materials. Children can use the outdoor space for both their own games and activities organised by adults, extending the day's play beyond the indoor rooms.

Harbour Hall provides an additional indoor space for very wet and windy days, including for younger children. It gives children somewhere beyond the playrooms when the weather is poor. In December 2023, children also took trips into the surrounding community and explored the languages and beliefs represented in their families.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person, giving families an identified practitioner responsible for supporting their development. Parents are treated as partners in planning learning and shaping the service. That relationship can connect what a child does at home with the experiences offered during the nursery day.

At the December 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that staff worked effectively with families and outside professionals, including using recommended activities to support language development. A child-inspired book-borrowing scheme also connected nursery reading with home. It is a tangible form of parent partnership: books could travel home, rather than literacy support ending when the session finished.

During December 2023, staff responded to babies' sounds and gestures with words, and babies received reassurance alongside consistent care routines. Older children practised sharing and helping one another.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The staff structure includes a SENCO role as well as designated safeguarding responsibilities. These give parents identifiable routes for discussing additional needs or a welfare concern; the roles themselves do not replace a discussion about the support an individual child needs.

Rest has its own space. The separate sleep room contains cots and mats, lowered lighting and a monitor, so sleeping arrangements are physically apart from active play. Individual bedding is supplied and washed weekly. For a child who still naps, that separation is an important part of the room arrangement.

Hot lunches come from Burb's Kitchen, while the food-preparation area is used to serve lunches and snacks, with textures adapted to children's developmental stage. Families share dietary requirements so meals can be planned around them.

School preparation in December 2023 included recognising names and practising personal hygiene. However, children did not consistently get opportunities to practise pouring materials or changing their own clothes independently. The next step was greater independence in ordinary tasks, rather than simply adding more school-related activities.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 713 Wimborne Road, Bournemouth, BH9 2AU, within the Life Centre; access is from Brassey Road. The nursery and preschool have separate entrances. Enquiries can be made by email at enquiries@top-bananas-pre-school.co.uk or by calling 01202 510899.

Nursery morning sessions run from 8.30am to 12.30pm, afternoon sessions from 12.30pm to 4.30pm, and all-day sessions from 7.30am to 5.30pm. Preschool has a morning session from 8.30am to 12.30pm and an all-day session from 8.30am to 4.30pm, alongside an afternoon option.

Provision runs for 51 weeks of the year. Closures include bank holidays, Christmas Eve and the period between Christmas and New Year. Breakfast Club and High-Tea are also offered to preschool children, extending the choices around their main sessions.

Funding and Paid Extras

In December 2023, the setting received funding for early education for children aged two, three and four.

Private childcare is charged by the hour, and breakfast, lunch, snacks and high tea carry separate charges. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. There is also a voluntary weekly contribution.

• Preschool afternoon timing. The afternoon session's start time is printed as 12.30am, which conflicts with its afternoon label. Confirm the intended start before building a collection or work schedule around that option.
• Noise during group activities. In December 2023, busy preschool sessions sometimes made it difficult for children to concentrate or make themselves heard. On a visit, ask how large-group activities are organised now.
• Practical independence. The December 2023 improvement point concerned children having more chances to pour materials and change clothing themselves. Look for how adults support these tasks while allowing children to do the work.
• Younger children's group sizes. The Baby Room and Toddler Room contain accessible play resources and share a separate sleep space. Ask how many children usually use each room on the days you are considering.

Top Bananas suits families weighing morning or afternoon sessions alongside all-day childcare, with a different all-day timetable for preschool. The sensory connections, separate sleep provision and use of Harbour Hall give its arrangements substance: there are identifiable spaces for exploration, rest and movement.

The December 2023 assessment provides a positive inspection position, but the preschool improvement points deserve attention. Families who value child-chosen play and accessible resources should look closely at how those opportunities translate into quieter group work and practical independence.